September 2012

I feel like I can barely remember what happened in September...

 

I started work at the end of August, so September was trying to adjust to life with working full time, kids going to long days at school/day care and housework falling to the wayside!

 

Labor day weekend, the kids and I went to Indianapolis for my sister's bridal shower.  It was a great weekend of relaxing with good family and friends.

 

The last weekend in September, I went back to Indianapolis for Beth's bachelorette party.  It was a little weird to not have any kids with me, but also quite nice! :)

 

Jake started going to "school"/daycare and he loves it!  He has adjusted beautifully and runs in without a problem.  All of the kids absolutely love it which makes Pete and I feel less guilty when we sometimes have to leave them there for 10 hour days!

 

I can't remember much detail from the month, so here are the pictures!

 

Claire and Grace typically nap with me on the nights that I have to work - I love it!

Pete and I rode our bikes to a local park and had a picnic on a Saturday in September

 It wore Jake out...

Claire, Uncle Keith, and Grace (on the top bunk) watching a movie!

 

The girls started taking showers - it is really nice!

Cookout with the Vandervaarts - Cousins sitting at the picnic table

 

 Uncle Mike with Jake and Bently

 

One of Jake's favorite things to do at the Y is to go play in the open gym with basketballs - he throws a fit whenever we leave

Claire resting during one of our shopping trips at Target

In mid-September we bought a car.  We figured with the combination of an SUV and a minivan, both of our commutes, and gas prices - it was the smart move.  The kids love the little car and here is a picture of them during our first drive!

Beth's bachelorette party

Beth's bridal shower

August 2012

Hello All - Sorry again for the delay in blog update.

August was a wonderful month.  We started out celebrating Mike and Sarah's wedding.  All five of us were involved in the wedding and we had a great time with the newly married couple.

August aslo involved Pete having a pretty serious ankle injury - but nothing was going to stop us from our play date with the Meyer family.  We met them at the Akron Zoo the day after Pete went to stat care to find out his ankle was not broken, but seemingly close.

On a Saturday, I took the kids to an art festival in a nearby town.  They had a great time making square paintings, spider rings, and petting animals.

One of the biggest changes of the month includes the fact that I went back to work.  I got a position at Hillcrest Hospital for a 13 week assignment.  It is an hour commute but it feels really good to be back in the working world.  The kids seem to be adjusting rather well. 

Here are some pictures from our month of August...

Claire has been working on her letters (Pete's are on top, Claire's on bottom)

Our family at the zoo - Pete in wheelchair and kids in stroller :)

Beth and Mallory came to visit at the end of August -

it was wonderful to spend time with two of my favorite gals :)

Art festival pictures below...

The Akron Zoo with the Meyer Family

Jake LOVES playing with the basketball at the gym



 This McDonald's drive thru is her FAVORITE thing at the Miller house :)

 Here are our amazing kids after a nearly 12 hour day at daycare :)

What road trips are like for us... lol

The Many Faces of Grace

Claire at the Fair

Beiber Fever :)

July 2012

July started off with me being diagnosed with strep throat.  The next day, Pete was sent to the ER for suspected meningitis.  He remained in the hospital for two days while my amazing family came and picked up the kids and took care of them.  After Pete was released, we went to Indy to see our family and pick up our kids of course.  We had a great time seeing all of our out of town (and in town) family and friends. 

After arriving back in North Canton, Pete was still complaining of a headache.  We had to go BACK to the hospital because he had what is called a post-dural headache.  (They performed a lumbar puncture which involves taking fluid out of his spine.  A post-dural headache can be caused and only cured by replacing the fluid with your own blood)  After the procedure, Pete felt better.  It still took several days before he felt back to his old self. 

To continue on the health topic - one night we were tucking Grace into bed and I just got a motherly itch that something was funny.  She felt clammy so I listened to her heart (I know, such a nurse) and she had an irregular heart beat.   We took her to the doctor the next morning and they diagnosed her with strep throat.  She was not sympomatic, but since strep throat can affect the heart muscles they decided to test her for it and she came back positive.  Then, we took the other two kids into the doctor to see if they had strep throat and both Jake and Claire had it.  We were one sick family throughout the month of July!  But that wasn't going to slow us down....

We went to a good high school friend, Elaine Lee's wedding in Saint Louis.  Sarah and Mike (Pete's brother and soon to be sister in law) took care of our three little dears while we went.  We enjoyed a nice weekend together, played some poker in a casino and went to the wedding.  We were able to catch up with some old friends and really had a nice time.

July also entailed our 21st annual Beach Mo trip.  The weekend trip where we go to the beach during the day and play cards and hang out at night.  This year, we divided up kid duty and with the Gettys and had a great time!  The kids LOVED the beach and we really enjoyed watching them enjoy it so much!

We also had a bachelorette party for Sarah (sister in law to be) as well as her 21st birthday celebration mixed with Kathy's (Pete's sister) birthday. We had a great time and I am so blessed to have these two (among the three others) as sisters in law.

Here are pictures from July...

 Pete being such a trooper in the hospital

 My sister, myself and my beautiful cousin, Jesi

 Jesi and I

 We came home from Indy to a shattered patio table (Apparently, the high heat can cause this type of class to spontaneously combust)

Below are pictures from our trip to Saint Louis

Jake loves spaghetti :)

Me and two of my fabulous sisters in law

Beach Mo XXI